Dyeing process



April 15, 1941. L Q SCOTT 2,238,400

' 1: 1am; rRocnss Filed Feb. 18, 1939 INV EDITOR ATTORNEY sertion of the dye. tion of the boiler is a hose -9 provided with a' Patented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

' 2,238,400 Lawren cl g zztz sz iije, Calif.

Application February 18, 1939, Serial No. 257,195

2 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to the dyeing of fabrics, and more particularly to the dyeing of fabrics without removing or detaching them from the surfaces or articles which they adorn.

While the invention may be susceptible of various applications, particular reference-is made to the automobile industry because it is believed that here it has its greatest usefulness.

In order to dye the fabric in air-{automobile it has heretofore been necessary to remove the same, and because of the expense involved but little of this kind of work is done.

It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a process for dyeing fabrics that will permit the dyeing operation to be performed without removing the fabric from its natural support, and one that will be simple,

economical, and highly efiicient in its practical application.

In the drawing, the figure is an illustration, partly in elevation and partly in section, showing a means whereby the process embodying my invention may be performed.

The word dye in-the following specification means any aqueous solution of coloring matter useful in'the dyeing of fabrics.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I provide a boiler l in which the liquid dye is placed as at 2, the unoccupied portion of the boiler forming a steam chamber 3. The liquid in the boiler is heated in any suitable manner as by gas applied through the medium of a gas burner placed beneath the boiler as at 4. .The

, boiler is equipped in the usual manner with a gauge as at 5, a pet-cock at 6 and a blowoif valve 1 at I, the cap 8 being removable to permit in- Connected to the lower porshut-ofi valve 10 and fitted with any desirable formof spray-nozzle as at H.

In carrying out my invention the dye is heated until steam is formed in chamber 3 and until 1 a steam pressure of some ten pounds, more or less, and a temperature of some two hundred and forty degrees; more or less, is attained. The

liquid dye released through nozzle II at this high temperature is immediately converted to steam that is forcibly discharged upon the cloth I: as at I3, contacting the fabric at a slightly lower temperature, probably in the neighborhood of one hundred and ninety to two hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

By introducing the dye into the fabric in this manner the hot steam causes the fibres of the fabric to open up and permit perfect penetration of the dye. In practice Iassist the work of the steam by a vigorous brushing of the fabric while the dye is being applied.

I have also found that by carrying out the process as above described but incorporating a cleaning compound in the liquid dye, the cleaning and dyeing of the fabric can be accomplished at the same time. This combining of the cleaner and dye is particularly efiective because the action of the cleaner is to dissolve out foreign material from the fabric fibres, and this action prepares the fibres for the immediate reception of the dye. This substitution of the dye for the removable foreign material through the use of a cleaning agent combined with the dye .and ap-" plied as hereinbefore set forth is the form of the invention most frequently used. In this form of the invention free use of the brush is made while the cleaner and dye is being applied.

While I have herein shown and described but tion under pressure greater than atmospheric pressure and forcibly discharging the heated dye by said pressure upon the fabric in the. presence of the atmosphere.

2. The process ,of dyeing fabric, comprising heating a solution of dye, in a closed chamber including a steam space, converting a part of said solution to steam in said steam space to create a pressure in said chamber greater than atmospheric pressure,,heating the rest of said solution to a degree where it is converted to steam upon contact with the atmosphere, and discharging the heated liquid part of-saidsolution onto said fabric by said steam pressure in the presence of the atmosphere. Y

-| LAWRENCE O. SCOTT. 

